The Key to Happiness Is…

Let's just say, you don't have to try hard.

If you've ever wondered what truly makes people happy, you're in luck: Scientists finally did the math. Researchers at University College came up with an equation that can predict happiness based on expectations and rewards. The biggest takeaway: Your moment-to-moment happiness isn't based on how well things are going, but whether it's better than you expected. Translation: The lower your expectations, the happier you are.

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The study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, gave 26 subjects a task in which they would win or lose money based on the decisions they made. Throughout, they were repeatedly asked "How happy are you right now?" Researchers also monitored the subjects' brain activity while they completed the tasks and reported their levels of happiness. They then calculated the data using this mathmatically fancy (and really complicated) equation:

University College London

To further test the data, researchers developed a game called "What makes me happy?" for a university-built app called The Great Brain Experiment. And the results from a little over 18,000 players confirmed their happiness-predicting equation worked, even though players only won points, not money. "We expected to see that recent rewards would affect moment-to-moment happiness but were surprised to find just how important expectations are in determining happiness," Dr. Robb Rutledge, the study's lead author, said in a statement.

But that doesn't mean you should abandon any or all expectations, researchers say, because even just forming them can make you happy. "If you have plans to meet a friend at your favourite restaurant, those positive expectations may increase your happiness as soon as you make the plan," Rutledge said.